CEiMB

FBC 2011

This weeks recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly was picked by the lovely Margaret of Tea and Scones. She chose Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Veggies, a perfect recipe for warmer days since the dish can be made in the oven: so no sweating above a hot stove!

The chicken gets rubbed with a mixture of garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and oil, which when placed into the oven gives off a lovely lemony/garlicky scent. I absolutely loved the flavours of this dish and will definitely be making it again!

The recipe can be found over at Tea and Scones. Go here to check out what my fellow Elie-istas thought of the Tuscan Roasted Chicken and Veggies. If you’re interested in cooking up delicious, nutritious and healthy food, check out Craving Ellie in My Belly: we’re always open to new members!

This was a delicious dish, quite easy to make. I loved it and am already looking forward to having leftovers for dinner tonight! If you want in on the fun, come and visit us over at CEiMB and sign up! Go here to see what my fellow Ellie-istas thought of the Asian Noodle Bowl

Holly of Phe.MOM.enon (one of the members of both groups) and Laurie came up with the idea of celebrating Dorie’s birthday by creating our version of the ‘perfect menu’ from Dorie’s new bookAround My French Table by choosing a few people who have been with TWD for a long time and joined FFwD.

There are 9 sections in Around My French Table and every blogger chose a section to pick a recipe from. The sections are:

1. Nibbles & hor d’oeuvres

2. Soups

3. Salads, starters, and small plates

4. Chicken and duck

5. Beef, veal, pork, and lamb

6. Fish and shellfish

7. Vegetables and grains

8. Desserts

I was very much tempted to pick something from Desserts, but instead I chose the section Chicken and duck and picked Curried Chicken with Pepper and Peas en Papilotte on page 221 of Around My French Table. This dish was perfect for me as it requires very little preparation and it’s extremely easy to put together: you slice up some chicken thighs, a red onion and a pepper, add some peas and curry, salt and pepper to the mix. Cut some parchment into 4 pieces and divide the chicken mix over the 4 pieces. Fold them closed and bake in the oven untill the chicken tests done. Serve with rice.

I’m not going to post the entire recipe, I want to urge you to go ahead and buy Around My French Table: you won’t regret it as it’s filled with lovely French recipes that are easy to make at home! I loved the flavour, although I might add just a little bit more curry or use a spicier variety next time. Unfortunately I can’t show you how it turns out as I accidentally erased all the pictures from my camera before uploading them to my computer :S

Thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes and cookbooks you have written, they are truly amazing!

Thank you Holly and Laurie for organizing this virtual birthday dinner! Are you curious about the other recipes that were made or do you want to know what other bloggers participated in this virtual birthday dinner? Go check out the roundup over at Phe.MOM.enon!!!

I love being a part of online cooking/baking groups because they make me try new recipes all the time: this week was the first time I made Chicken Pot Pies, these were made for Craving Ellie in My Belly and they were picked as this weeks recipe by Shandy of Pastry Heaven.

Half the recipe was made and I shared one with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while due to both our current hectic schedules; I must apologize for the lack of pictures, before I knew it we were eating dessert and I realized that I forgot to take photos: however my fellow Ellie-istas posted plenty pictures, so go check out their posts!

(So technically this is now a three sentence post, but I just wanted to share with you that I just received my first grade for school: a 7!!! :D)

This week I got to pick the recipe for Craving Ellie in my Belly. A while ago I saw this recipe by Ellie for Easy Chicken-Mushroom Quesadillas on Foodnetwork and since I was in the mood for Mexican food I thought this would be the perfect time to try it!

The recipe was put together quite easily. I bought presliced mushrooms, pulled defrosted chicken out of the fridge (I always buy chicken when it’s on sale, cook and shred it, portion it and pop it into the freezer), and started cooking: dinner was served within 15 minutes!

I slightly undercooked the mushrooms by accident, they could have used a bit more time.Instead of topping one tortilla with the filling and another tortilla I topped half the tortilla and flipped the other half over the filling: this made it much easier to flip over the quasadilla in the pan without major loss of content.

I served the quesadilla with some salsa and sour cream, as suggested by Ellie.In my opinion this recipe is another keeper: easy to make and tastes great. The cumin, oregano and chili powder work great together. Next time I might just add some fresh cilantro into the mix, I love that stuf!! I ate two halfs, so actually 2 servings according to Ellie.Overall: two thumbs up!!

One tiny detail…. I got to enjoy this dish again later last night due to heartburn. Luckily for me this was quickly sorted by taking one of the Rolaid Chews that I brought home with me on my last trip to Canada. That stuff really works fast!! I’m not quite sure what caused the heartburn this time, maybe it was the salsa, the chili powder or the cumin….

Heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until the mushroom water is evaporated and they begin to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add chicken, cumin, chili powder and oregano and stir until all spices are incorporated. Add spinach, salt and pepper and cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes.

Lay 1 tortilla on a flat work surface and sprinkle with 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Spoon 1/2 cup chicken and vegetable mixture on top of cheese, then top with an additional 1/4 cup cheese. Top with another flour tortilla.

Heat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Carefully place 1 quesadilla in pan and cook 3 minutes. Using a large spatula, gently flip the quesadilla and cook an additional 3 minutes until lightly browned and cheese is melted. Repeat with second quesadilla.

Slice each quesadilla into quarters. Place two quarters on a plate with 1 tablespoon sour cream and 2 tablespoons salsa.

This week is the first time I’m actually writing two recipes in one post. So I’m going to start with CEiMB for today’s main course and end with the Barefoot Bloggers for today’s dessert….

CEiMB: Thai Style Halibut Coconut Curry Broth

This weeks recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly was picked by The Not So Skinny Kitchen, she decided on Thai Style Halibut Coconut Curry Broth. I’m not a huge fan of fish and I wanted to empty my freezer for my upcoming vacation, so I decided to use two chicken breasts. I also used red onion instead of shallots ’cause I was totallly out of shallots!

I cooked the chicken for about 20 minutes, just to make sure it was cooked all the way. I halved the recipe, but used the entire two teaspoons of red curry paste. I left one chicken breast whole and cut the other one into small pieces. Boy, this dish sure ticked all my boxes: curry, cilantro, lime and chicken: absolutely delicious!!!

One serving of this lovely dish works out to only 6 WW points!To my humble opinion this was a great pick, check our what my fellow Ellie-istas thought here.

Barefoot Bloggers: Ina’s Lemon Cakes

McKenzie of Kenzie’s Kitchen got to pick this months Bonus Recipe for Barefoot Bloggers, her pick was Ina’s Lemon Cake. Oh my, this tastes amazing: like heaven. I didn’t think it would be possible with not even the tiniest bit of chocolate in sight, but it’s really good!!

In this recipe Ina combines the perfect pound cake with a lovely tart lemon syrup and a delicious lemon glaze. The cake is nice and moist, sweet but also sour. To sum it up: the perfect summer cake!

The recipe actually makes two cakes, but since I’m planning on doing a lot of baking the next couple of days I halved the recipe and ended up with one perfect lemon cake.

My one lemon cake made 14 slices, that works out to 5 WW Points per slice.

Go check out what the other Barefoot Bloggers thought of Ina’s Lemon Cake here!

Well, it’s Thursday today and we all know what that means: Craving Ellie in My Belly. And I am especially exited about this weeks pick. Guess why…. Because I got to choose a recipe!!! It was really difficult to decide on one recipe, ’cause The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger is filled with wonderful dishes.

I eventually selected Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach and Couscous. Chicken is one of my favourite meats to cook with, simply because it’s so versatile and I love both spinach and couscous allthough I would never have thought of putting them together in one dish.

Since I wasn’t able to find baby spinach, I simply used normal spinached: it just needed a bit more time in the pan than indicated. It took about 15 minutes to cook and I really enjoyed it! I loved the combination of the tomatoes with the balsamic vinegar. This dish is perfect for one of those nights where you don’t feel like cooking, but still want to eat a healthy and tasty meal and it will definetely be made again by me!

DirectionsHeat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook about 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through and juices run clear. Remove the chicken and set aside.

To the same pan, add the spinach and cook just until wilted, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Lower the heat to medium and add the balsamic vinegar and chicken broth to the pan and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any browned bits. Add the tomatoes, bring to a simmer and cook 3 to 5 minutes.

Place the couscous in a serving bowl. Top with the spinach, chicken and balsamic-tomato sauce.